The problem of COVID-19 pandemic
One of the central problems that continues to affect the world order today significantly is the COVID-19 pandemic. Originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the coronavirus infection has forced national governments to impose social distance restrictions, ban air travel, and implement strict quarantine measures for the second year in a row. Although COVID-19 has weakened markedly with the emergence of the Omicron strain, its contagiousness has increased, causing the world to experience new pandemic waves once again. As such, the choice of this news topic is exciting to discuss, especially in light of our course content.
The current agenda
The current COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic agenda is markedly different from what was relevant for 2020. Whereas early news reports focused on prevention advocacy and coverage of hospital bed shortages, the most recent news articles, by contrast, place COVID-19 in a socioeconomic and political framework to assess reciprocal impact. Meanwhile, the issue of vaccination as a mode of prevention has increasingly been explored by news portals in terms of civil rights and infringement of liberties. It may seem that a large number of people have either already been sickened or have lost their panicked fear of being infected, as they observe that the actual effects of COVID-19 are proving to be not as frightening as they seemed at the beginning of the pandemic. Thus, on the spectrum of coronavirus infection, the focus has clearly shifted from personal health and medical issues to topics of public welfare and civil rights recognition.
Ethical responsibility
Related to the aspects of personal social responsibility studied is an ethical responsibility for one’s own actions. As bearers of moral values, people may do right or wrong, but in either case, they are responsible for their own actions. To see how this relates to the current topic, I suggest looking at the following short excerpt from a news summary.
PCR tests and antibody tests
Probably all of us have encountered PCR tests and antibody tests that do not inspire confidence. Such products may be sold in supermarkets and pharmacies, but they do not seem to be as reliable as lab tests. Ultimately, no airline will accept home test results as proof of health because such tests can be easily faked. Faking tests can be done by manufacturers to save money or by buyers to deceive the public: no matter, either way, it involves anti-morality. As the video says, a sick individual with a false-negative test can cause harm to others, which can lead to their death. Thus, this ethics of own reasoning in synthesis with personal responsibility also applies to the COVID-19 problem.
Importance of wearing masks
A news article from NBC News talks about how wearing masks can help in the fight against a pandemic. One of the sub-themes of this piece is the coverage of Americans’ anxiety and stress over the two-year pandemic and the strict necessity of wearing masks in connection with it (Edwards, 2022). Indeed, medical masks have already become part of the daily practice of people around the world, and a general rejection would mean victory over COVID-19. However, many individuals refuse to use personal protective equipment in favor of their personal needs. Because of this, incidentally, the number of scandals on airplanes is increasing because without each passenger wearing a mask, planes are not allowed to take off (Levenson, 2022).
The topic raised by NBC News reveals the issue of personal responsibility to oneself and to society, as wearing a mask, according to the CDC, has a proven track record of effectiveness (Edwards, 2020). Each individual has the moral right to determine whether he or she is willing to take responsibility for his or her life through mask-wearing but cannot go against public laws. In other words, when individuals refuse to wear masks (whether they are vaccinated or not), they put others at risk. This raises issues of infringing on the freedoms of other individuals and intentionally harming them. Consequently, individuals have a social responsibility to wear a mask in order to work together to combat the active spread of COVID-19.
The problem of forced vaccination
Meanwhile, the problem of forced vaccination against coronavirus infection raises questions about the influence of power. One of the fundamental freedoms of any individual is the absolute responsibility for one’s own life if capable. In other words, no one may compel an individual to commit acts against his will unless such acts threaten national security. Encouraged by the desire for public health, national governments have imposed mandatory vaccination regulations on an increasing number of categories of the population; naturally, this raises ethical questions about the ability of authorities to influence the private lives of individuals in this way.
This is particularly evident in the protest by truckers in Canada who have expressed dissatisfaction with the vaccination law. A news article describes Canadian truckers protesting against the strengthening of government power over civil society because they expect that “things will never go back to normal, they are being ganged up on by the government, the media, Big Tech, Big Pharma” (Panreck, 2022, para. 7). This example reflects the problem of resistance to authority and opposition to an opinion that is studied in the course. However, it is difficult to call either side of the conflict right because both truckers (like all anti-vaxxers) and governments have a fairly reasonable motivation for their opinions.
Government support
Any attempt by the government to support national health care may not seem entirely fair. The authorities in many countries were totally unprepared for the pandemic, causing health care systems to fail at the beginning of COVID-19. The high number of deaths, the shortage of medicines, and the lack of adequate information undermined people’s trust in the authorities. However, the action of the authorities to protect public health can be justified by the increasing media coverage of the health risks of COVID-19. From a biological point of view, as Nature (2022) writes, having suffered COVID-19 increases the risk of developing dangerous effects, among them cardiovascular disease. Consequently, ignoring preventive action and effective treatment measures to contain the problem now could lead to exacerbation of chronic disease in the near future.
The issue of pollution
The impact of COVID-19 on ecosystems is meaningfully broader than meets the eye. To understand what we are talking about, let us watch the following short excerpt from the BBC documentary:
As you can see, the pandemic problem continues to affect non-obvious areas. The need to wear masks all the time leads to the problem of their improper disposal, causing ecosystems to suffer. Studies show that plastic particles from medical masks get into aquatic animals, leading to mass extinctions (City University of Hong Kong, 2022). The problem is exacerbated by the intensification of globalization, with tourists traveling around the world, exacerbating the problem of pollution in natural areas isolated from megacities.